The 2022 Veritas Awards presentation was rather different this year from the black tie event we have been invited to for the past few years. And we so enjoyed the difference. The event was held at Nederburg in a large marquee on the lawn in front of the Manor House and the weather played ball with a perfect windless day. It was rather reminiscent of the fashionable days of the Nederburg wine auction, which is, sadly, no more. We were summoned to arrive at 10h30 as there were quite a few award presentations to get through
and we then discovered that the Chefs in charge of the food were Craig Cormack and Beau du Toit of Goose Roasters
We always know that they will produce really great food at any event at which they cater
They had a breakfast feast ready for us; very welcome as we had an early start to get there
Crisp freshly baked croissants, slices of tender gammon, soft brie slices and a sweet mustard sauce were delicious
and a choice of some very good Cap Classiques, served chilled or with orange juice
Good coffee was also available
Sout tert (salt tart) is the South African interpretation of a French Quiche, here topped with caramelized onion
and there were also Vanilla Pannacottas topped with muesli and berries
The first Spanspek (Cantaloupe) melon of the year served en brochette with Palma ham
A lovely dry L'Ormarins Blanc de Blanc Cap Classique
Craig with Lynne
This was phenomenally good, an almond macaron filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese
Belgian waffles topped with southern fried chicken, a paprika emulsion and maple syrup
Nick Pentz of Groote Post, Sommelier Georgio Melitou and his wife Journalist Samarie Smith and Johan Jordaan of Spier
Vondeling winemaker Matthew Copeland and his wife Yolandi with Johan Wegner of Get Wine and his daughter
Michael Fridjhon with Philip Jonker of Weltevrede
Tables all set for the awards to be followed by a late lunch
The band played really good soft jazz music at the beginning of the day;
unfortunately, it became seriously loud during lunch, killing conversation
We take our seats
Bennie Howard was our MC for the day and told us this was the 32nd year of these awards, and told us that there are three new financial partners joining Veritas. They are KykNet’s Ontbytsake TV, Nashua and BlueNova – in addition to the established sponsors SA Litho and Deloitte. It was also National Pinotage day and we would find a bottle of Pinotage to celebrate with on the table. He told us that this year there were 1312 entries. They have 70 judges who are put into panels of 3 to taste different categories of wines over 4 days. The wine is tasted unsighted and 2 different panels taste the same wines in different order on another day. A score of 90 - 92 wines a gold medal and 93 - 100 a double gold. There is no discussion on the first round of tasting. They then bring back all wines scoring 86 or more and the wines can be tasted two, three and even four times. There will be public tastings of the wines which will be held on 21 October in Cape Town, 25 October in Johannesburg and 10 November in Durban. All the tastings will take place at the Deloitte premises in each city. See further information at www.veritas.co.za
Then it was time for the Living Legends Awards to be presented
You can read about the winners in detail here https://veritas.co.za/veritas-living-legends-awards-2022/
Christo Pienaar, the Chairman of Veritas, presented the awards
First, to this year's nine Living Legends. Here Christo Pienaar presents the ward to Peet Englebrecht, an Agricultural Inspector
To Michael Fridjhon, wine writer, wine educator and wine merchant
To Johan Krige, head of WOSA and owner of Kanonkop wines
To journalist and wine judge Angela Lloyd who has tasted for the Platter Guide since 1986
To Andries (Olla) Olivier of Swartland Wine cellar and the Young Wine show
Beyers Truter, maker of great Pinotage and owner of Beyerskloof
Johannes van Willing, retiring organiser of great wine shows
Bennie Howard and Elsabé Ferreira, the excellent organisers of the Awards, with the scrolls
An English rose amongst the other worthy winners
PRO Yolandi de Wet and Photographer Andrew Gorman
Then came the Veritas gold and double gold awards; a record number was awarded this year, 103 Double Golds and 136 Golds. Click on this link to see who won awards for their wine this year. https://user-hpa96tt.cld.bz/VERITAS-2022
Unrelated winemakers Stuart Botha of Tokara and RJ Botha of Kleine Zalze
and then it was time to present the final award, the top trophy, now named the Duimpie Bayly Vertex award, for the best wine entered for Veritas. It was won by the 2019 Tokara Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon. Collected by Stuart Botha
The Top Achievers award for the winery with 10 entries or less went to Flagstone
The Top Achievers award for the winery with 10 entries or more went to Kleine Zalze
Other winners of multiple double golds were RJ Botha (Kleine Zalze), Johan Jordaan (Spier), Izele van Blerk (KWV),
Daniel Slabber (Wellington) and Zinaschke Steyn (Nederburg) shown here with Christo Pienaar
Time for lunch, which was served Family style
Roast Sirloin of Beef served with a horseradish cream and deep fried potatoes in duck fat
Blush tomato salad, wasabi mascarpone, pesto, crispy onions, sunflower seeds and fresh tomatoes
The beef came perfectly cooked, just beautifully pink in the middle and very tender
Bobotie Jaffles, with a mango atchar dip
We were able to select wines for the table and managed to find these three very special wines. All were superb
and afterwards on the lawn, it was time for dessert, heavy on the dairy, a Dom Pedro Brandy milkshake
Home made caramel nut ice cream in sugar cones
and some choux pastry buns stuffed with cream
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